Here Come the Jedis!: Ernest Borgnine as Yoda

YODA

In the original Star Wars Trilogy, the bat-eared Jedi master was nearly 900 years old. So in the prequels -- which take place nearly a half-century earlier -- Yoda needed to look about 850. "Naturally," Lucas explains, "we thought of Ernest Borgnine."

Borgnine, a seasoned actor who won an Oscar in the 1950s for some movie that no one seems to remember, is best known for his lame antics in the title role of the 1960s TV series, McHale's Navy. Borgnine brings the same intensity to his role as Yoda, doddering about aimlessly and poking at things with his walking stick.

In order to maintain some continuity with the previous films, the voice of Yoda was dubbed in later by veteran Muppeteer, Frank Oz. Oz, himself no spring chicken, seemed unable to keep his focus, with the result that the Grover-like aspects of the character leapt to the fore, as demonstrated by Yoda's entrance line in HCTJ!: "Hello everybodeeee! It's your old pal, Yoda, here!"

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